Shock and Awe
by GrievousAlpha5
Summary: The tragic story of a pilot at JOSH-A who realizes all too late that he became a sacrificial lamb. Rated M for strong language and somewhat graphic depictions.


**Disclaimer/Notes:** I do not own Gundam SEED or any of the franchise. Some of the sentences are written in German, and their translations will be listed at the end. Rated M for language and somewhat graphic depictions.

Looking down at the carnage below him, Johann Schrader shuddered as he saw many of his fellow comrades endlessly slaughtered by what seemed like an endless wave of ZAFT military might. It was a miracle his Rhodus VTOL fighter had survived at all, but even miracles run out. He had already used up his missile pods to defend against a DINN, and the 20mm heavy machine gun was close to going dry as well. His entire squadron was, for lack of a better term, completely wiped out.

Struggling to keep his hands from letting go of the control stick, Johann looked back to his co-pilot...ugh, the sight of him almost made him want to vomit his lunch. Some stray fire from a Spearhead had killed MacMillan, ironically enough. His chest looked like a big fat piece of deformed meat, packed with broken rib bone, shrapnel-embedded organs and splattered pieces of flesh. Very little of his flight suit was still there. No one deserved to die like he had, but Johann couldn't be concerned with that right now.

As the invasion raged on around him, Johann swore in German,_ "Scheiße! Alle diese ZAFT kräfte dose gehen sie zu blut-saugen eiter-ausräumen Hölle!"_ The carnage around him made him want to break. Looking down, he saw linear tanks and artillery being swat aside like flies on a table by the BuCUEs. His eyes now towards the sea, Johann could now see _Arkansas_ mobile destroyers and _Fraser_ mobile frigates being sunk by missile strikes from _Vosgulov_ attack submarines attacking from below.

Somehow, Johann knew from all he saw that the end was coming, and soon. None would escape from the carnage of this surprise invasion, but if any did escape, they'd sure have enough battle scars to show for it. Looking around, Johann saw something that made him want to scream. He'd heard many things about the ship known as _Archangel_, largely that it had never been defeated in battle. Now, he saw her with deep missile scars on her hull, a massive hole in one of her hangars, and her portside linear cannon was destroyed.

"_Ach, fricken sie mich! Warum ist dies ereignis?"_ Johann said to himself as he continued to witness the carnage. Suddenly, he saw something that made his blood crawl. It was one of the infamous G-units that were stolen and currently used by ZAFT. Flying one of those Guuls, the Duel poised itself in the path of the _Archangel_'s bridge. Johann, feeling either brave or stupid, floored his Rhodus towards the Duel in an attempt to distract it enough to save his fellows. The twin VTOL fans whirred like typhoons.

His hands on the trigger, Johann kept his steely eyes on the head of the Duel when he saw a bright green light split the Duel's rifle in half. Looking up, Johann saw what appeared to be another mobile suit descending from the sky. It had an impressive wingspan, and its weapons could already be seen. Smiling widely, Johann sensed that suddenly the tide had been turned in the Alliance's favor. As he watched the awesome displays of firepower coming from the winged mobile suit, Johann noticed a DINN that had lost its arms. It was time for some well-deserved vengeance.

Quickly turning at a ninety-degree angle towards his target, Johann aimed the 20mm machine cannon at the DINN's lower chest and pressed the trigger, screaming at the enemy pilot in his native language, _"Nehmen sie das, sie abscheulich stück von Koordinator scheiße!"_ All his bullets hit, causing massive damage to the control systems and the cockpit. The rounds that penetrated the cockpit instantly reduced its occupant to a pile of organ meat, shattered bones and seared flesh. The Eurasian pilot watched with pride as he saw that DINN quickly descended into the sea and exploded upon a rough impact.

As the feeling of pride began to sink in, Johann could hear a transmission coming in from his headset. Attempting to clear up the interference, the voice was that of a young man, a teenager perhaps. Expecting an order of calm retreat, what Johann Schrader heard instead made him start panicking in silence. The voice said that any minute, a Cyclops System would activate and reduce JOSH-A to a smoldering, burning ruin. He knew how powerful a Cyclops was, one of his best friends had survived that debacle at Endymion that had expanded the size of that crater on the lunar surface.

Suddenly feeling that defending this base wasn't worth getting sacrificed over, Johann floored his Rhodus' VTOL fans and began a desperate attempt to reach a safe distance before that _verdammen_ system activated. As he was nearing the _Archangel_ in a desperate attempt to get aboard her, Johann could feel the ground violently shaking from the air. It had begun; that _verdammen_ system had been activated and now he was out of time. As Johann took one last look at the remains of MacMillan, his face formed a cynical smile, one full of regret and failure. Then, the sheer power of the system destroyed the ground underneath it and sent a giant, neon-red explosion into the air.

One of many a shockwave that were sent from its path smashed into the Rhodus, shorting out its control system and sending sparks flying into both cockpits. Johann kept his hands on the control stick, desperately trying to keep his craft steady. Soon, he could feel power in the VTOL fans go dry and the Rhodus began spiraling downwards in a violent motion, rocking Johann back and forth and pieces of MacMillan all over his own cockpit. Johann finally couldn't take the sight of that broken body anymore, and violently puked up what he had in his stomach all over the cockpit.

Trying to keep focus as the Rhodus continued to descend, Johann's face turned to one of shock as he saw himself get closer and closer to the boundaries of the blast itself. Cursing that this fighter wasn't built strongly enough, Johann braced him for the inevitable crash landing. Suddenly, all went black as the Rhodus crashed and Johann's face was smacked against the forward control board. The blast had sent out another shockwave, hitting the damaged VTOL fighter dead-on and ripping most of its armor off, sending one of its fans into the wind. The cockpit glass shattered into pieces, and almost all of it was heated. Bits and pieces of it embedded themselves into Johann's arms and legs.

He'd landed less than a mile from the epicenter of the detonation. After what seemed like hours of unconsciousness, both of Johann's eyes shot wide open, his body wracked with burning pain. Looking around him, he could see a massive mushroom cloud that seemed almost never-ending, burning fires and pieces of debris all around him. Raising his arms, he could soon see small, super-hot pieces of glass embedded and bleeding surrounding it. Ignoring the pain as best he could, Johann reached for his seat straps and quickly got them loosened. Slowly moving his pain wracked body out of the seat; Johann then made a quick jump out onto the ground. His mouth let loose a silent scream as the pain in his legs intensified to maddening levels.

After a few moments of letting the pain subside, Johann stood up weakly, hunched over with pain still throughout his body. Looking back at the Rhodus, he saw that it had been wrecked pretty badly. Taking one last look at the co-pilot's seat, Johann's face was slack as he saw the cockpit smeared in MacMillan's remains. Suddenly, he collapsed onto the ground again, out of strength and growing weaker by the second. His body had absorbed a heavy amount of radiation put off by the Cyclops, and Johann knew he was going to die very soon. There were no allies left…so he made his peace and spoke weakly in German.

"_Gott im ihres Himmel…warum hat gemacht es ende die weg?"_ Then, Johann Schrader fell onto his back, exhausted and utterly tired. His eyes began seeing a bright white light and heavenly voices filled his ears. Then, five seconds later, all was finished.

Translations (in order of the story)

1. "Shit! All these ZAFT forces can go to blood-sucking, pus-gutting hell!"

2. "Fuck me! Why is this happening?"

3. "Take that, you loathsome piece of Coordinator shit!"

4. "God in your heaven…why did it end this way?"

5. Verdammen Damn

Well, read and review, of course. I'd like to know if I should make a story featuring one-shots like this about untold stories of tragedy, victory and all that in the world of Gundam SEED.


End file.
